Merry Men and Wonderful Wales

After a farewell to Lauren and Lee who weren't looking too excited about their return to Melbourne, we headed off to the underground to get to the station for our return trip to Lichfield.  We were quite amazed when the train took off on time pretty much to the second.  But our elation was short lived.  The trip was to take 1.5 hours, and the first stop wasn't until half an hour into the trip.  As soon as we stopped there was an announcement that there would be a short delay for a staff change.  Five minutes later an apology for the longer delay, then five minutes after that an announcement they had no senior conductor and the service was now terminated, please leave the train.  So there we were, an overfilled train load, standing on this platform not knowing what was going on.  A girl nearby struck up a conversation, telling us that she travels that track many weekends and this happens frequently as they don't have enough drivers.   Finally we were told that we would have to wait for the next service, an hour later.  Well, of course, that train was also very full, so we were barely able to squeeze on.  To add insult to injury, when I navigated my way down the aisle through those standing and sitting on the floor, plus the dogs, it was to discover the toilets were out of order.  Didn't leave me with good feelings for the British railway network.

Rob had got our messages and was waiting there to pick us up.  After lunch, bowing to my new found interest in long boats, we went to another marina.  Now this was great, as there were a number lined up for sale, all open to look in!!  I had been hanging out to see the inside of one of these boats, now here was a feast, and many of them brand new.  Very, very luxurious.  I can see how these are becoming very popular in the vast canal waterways.

A long boat coming through a bridge after navigating a loch

A new boat

Very luxurious

Sunday it was off to discover Robin Hood.  Despite the fact that Mel and Rob live so close to these iconic sites, they have never really explored them.  First stop was Nottingham where we were very impressed with the castle perched on a rock in the centre of town.  Apparently underneath is a maze of man made caves, unfortunately not open that day.  But what did impress us even more, especially Jim, was the oldest pub in England circa 1189.  It was a fascinating building with some roof and rear walls that were the rock basement of the castle.  Probably one of the most interesting buildings we had seen, and they made a good coffee to boot.  It had an interesting name "Trip to Jerusalem Hotel" apparently so named as King Richard 1st (Lionheart) and his crusaders frequented there on return from the Crusades.

Nottingham Castle

The base of the castle.  Caves have been dug into the rock.

The Trip to Jerusalem Hotel

Inside the hotel

We left there and it was on to Sherwood Forrest, much further out than we were expecting.  But how lucky could we be - apart from the fact it was a glorious afternoon with clear blue skies, we discovered it was their History Through the Ages weekend, and there were many displays and re-enactments, including one on Robin Hood, performed at the base of the Major Oak, an enormous tree over a thousand years old which is said to be the tree where Robin Hood meet with his Merry Men.

Robin Hood re-enactment

Another age on show

Monday morning we had a hire care organised for a quick ovenighter to North Wales.  The day was overcast and misty, but how spectacular was the scenery!  We hadn't realised just how good it was going to be.  There are many walks in the Snowdonia area, and we saw many people walking, and many cars sitting in car parks for the walkers.  It would be wonderful to do these walks.

Our B and B in Betwys Y Coed was lovely and after a good night's sleep and lovely breakfast we headed off to explore again.  We spent some time in the village in the lovely shops and also went to their old church built in the fourteenth century.  We also saw water falls, Dolwyddelan Castle (mostly a ruin, built by Llewelyn the Great, and lots more spectacular scenery.  All too soon, we were out of time and we needed to get going.

Beddgelert village

Beautiful scenery

Swallow Falls

More scenery

Roads with walls each side.  This one was actually quite wide.

Our hire car was a Peugeot 208, a five door sporty diesel hatch which Jim really enjoyed driving, even through the very narrow roads. We were amazed that some of these windy roads with walls almost on the roads have speed limits up to 60 miles per hour.  Most of the time 30 didn't feel very safe.  But our little car handled the roads well and the onboard computer calculated 60 miles per gallon fuel consumption.

It was on the way home that what is probably going to be the classic story of the trip occurred.  Half way back we decided on a break and I remembered a Starbucks on the highway.  When we got inside there was one other person being served.  He was quite frustrating changing his mind, buying extra things and generally fluffing around.  Finally he got his order and took his coffees over to the table to sugar them.  While we were waiting for ours to be made we saw that they had a chocolate shaker with the sugars.  Good we thought, we really like our cappuccinos with chocolate.

When our coffees were ready we took them over to find the chocolate shaker gone and the other customer walking out the door.  I turned around and Jim had vanished.  Next thing I know, I find he's raced out the door and is at the car door of the other customer.  Apparently the conversation went along these lines

You took the chocolate shaker.
No I didn't
Yes you did.  It was there when you were there and gone after you left.  I want chocolate on my coffee.
A bit of rummaging within the bag, and the shaker was produced.

Sometimes you just can't really retire.